Atheism from a psychological perspective: A qualitative study

While belief and religiousness have been extensively studied, disbelief and rejection of a deity have been hardly considered as topics of research in the field of the psychology of religion in Turkey. Of course there is research in which atheists are studied from a psychological perspective. However, these studies are quite limited. This situation shows that the subject of atheism still needs to be investigated in Turkey. Therefore, this particular study aims to find the answer to the question why atheists prefer not to believe. A structured (guided) interview technique is used in this qualitative study. Twenty (20) open-ended questions were prepared, 18 members of the Association of Atheists were recruited and face to face interviews were conducted with each of them in Istanbul. The data was recorded with a voice recorder, and then each record was transcribed one by one. The data was analysed in two ways: first, clustering was done by creating key concepts, and secondly, discourse analysis technique was utilized. This study, which has the character of the tradition of understanding, can be evaluated in the context of hermeneutical analysis. According to the findings, the following reasons appear to be the motives behind why atheists refuse to believe in God: "desire for independence and freedom", "the forms of God representation", "problem of evil", "search for meaning", "rational and logical thought", "science and technological developments", "economic liberty", and "modernity and secularization". Psychological analysis indicates that "self-sufficiency", "will to power", "individualization", "narcissism", "hedonism" and "attachment relations" seem to feed the sense of freedom and independence. Psychological and sociological factors appeared to be at the forefront in the denial of God. Feelings and thoughts fed by dramatic experiences, the problem of evil, and adverse socio-economic conditions creates negative God perceptions among the individuals who identify themselves as atheists. In the meantime, it also seems that they try to explain the meaning and existential void of their life through psychological reasoning without basing it on a divine gesture. Atheists, who do not accept meta-physical causes, strive to explain all the incidents that happen in the world with rational and scientific explanations. Finally, it can be said that the process of modernity and secularization deeply affects atheists perceptions of God, religion and world. Keywords: Atheism, disbelief, problem of evil, secularization, liberation of man.